The Black Widow
by Crimson Dove
Summary: It's the beginning of a new school year at Hogwarts and things are already starting to seem strange. New alliances will form between old foes whilst new romances blossom. Dark forces are drawing nearer and nearer with each passing day...


Crimson Dove: This is my very first fanfic and I would appreciate feedback. Please e-mail me at imleac@comcast.net if you have any questions  
  
I hope you like it!   
  
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The Black Widow  
  
Chapter One: The Transfer Student  
  
The cold cut through Deirdre's body like a freshly sharpened knife. Her eyes watered from the furious winds making it harder to see the white landscape. Light was slowly fading; giving way to a brilliant orange sunset that glowed from behind the mountaintops. But as the light faded, so did the little warmth Deirdre had. She was becoming numb...  
  
"Will you watch what you're doing?!" A sharp pain ran through Deirdre's side as she snapped awake. Opening a pair of groggy eyes she saw a red heel pulling itself out of her ribs. The woman looked quite annoyed.  
  
"Huh? Oh, sorry," Deirdre mumbled and got up from the polished floor. It was the third time today that she had mysteriously fallen asleep.   
  
Fumbling around in her pocket for her ticket, she looked over it again, and wondered where the platform was. Leave it to the strange English wizards to make tasks difficult.  
  
She wandered around a bit, moving back and forth between Platform 9 and Platform 10. A few people were giving her strange looks, but she dismissed them. Deirdre didn't have time to worry about muggles.   
  
"Good morning!" An unusually perky voice called to her. "You look like you're not from around here."  
  
Still a bit slow from her nap, Deirdre couldn't seem to locate the person.  
  
"I said good morning," the voice repeated, suddenly next to her.   
  
Startled, Deirdre jumped a bit, and looked down at the small individual. No wonder she couldn't see her, she was about as big as a toddler. Everything about her was doll-size; from the top of her head to the tip of her toes, the girl looked like she strolled right off a toy store shelf. Her eyes seemed different, though. Deirdre could not put her finger on it and quickly dismissed the thought.  
  
The girl extended a doll-size hand. "My name's Dana Lansford and it's my first year at Hogwarts."  
  
Tentatively Deirdre shook the girl's hand. She was not accustomed to children, much less hyper ones. "Deirdre Apollyon, it's my first year too, but I'm, uh, a guess you could say, a transfer student."  
  
"Oh, I knew it! I could tell with all of those exotic green scarves you're wearing. Are you a fan of Slytherin? Where did you get 'em from?" The thing bobbed its head excitedly back and forth.  
  
"Who?" Deirdre knew very little about Hogwarts. "These scarves were a present from a friend."  
  
"Wow! I bet they're from far away, like Egypt or something. Have you ever seen a pyramid? One time I was reading a book and…" Deirdre let her ramble on for a few minutes, but then spoke up.  
  
"I think the train's going to be leaving soon."  
  
"You're right!" Dana grabbed Deirdre's arm and pulled her about ten yards away from the wall they were standing by. "All we have to do is run through the wall and we'll be there."   
  
"Run through a wall?" Deirdre repeated feeling somewhat worried about running into a wall.  
  
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. But you know, I've never done it before. I'm only doing what my mum told me to do," she answered, looking like a baby chick as her yellow hair stuck out from behind her ears.  
  
"Uh-huh," Deirdre was feeling more worried with Dana's answer.  
  
"Alright, I'm going!" Dana's legs flew comically out from her sides. Obviously the luggage was much heavier than her. Deirdre watched as she disappeared. Alarmed she glanced around to see if any of the muggles had noticed, but it seemed they had not.   
  
Deirdre gripped tightly onto her luggage and let her feet do all the work as she passed through the wall.  
  
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Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley made their way over to the portal, carrying a myriad of trunks and boxes.  
  
"Harry dear, do you have everything?" Mrs. Weasley asked for the umpteenth time.  
  
"Yes, I'm sure Mrs. Weasley," Harry replied straightening his robes.   
  
"Ron?"  
  
"Yes, mum."  
  
"Ginny?"  
  
"Yes, mum, now stop asking!"  
  
"Alright, I'm just concerned. I don't want any of you to write to me saying you forgot your robes or mittens or-"  
  
"Enough already, we need to leave or we're going to be late," Ron walked a few yards away from his mother. "Come on, Harry."  
  
Harry walked next to Ron and waited for Ginny to stumble over. The girl had brought absolutely too much luggage, but telling her to leave some behind would be like talking to a wall. She wouldn't listen.  
  
"Ron," Giny huffed. "Take some of this."   
  
"What? Ginny, I told you not-" Ron was cut off as a trunk was thrown into his arms.  
  
"Thanks," replied his sister as she took off into the wall.  
  
"She's takes advantage of me, I swear," Ron said to Harry as he placed the trunk on top of his while shaking his head back and forth. "I need to have a talk with her."  
  
Harry laughed. The whole summer Ron had been bossed around by Ginny. "I'm sure, Ron."  
  
"Are you making fun of me?" Ron asked but wasn't answered as Harry had left him already.  
  
******************************  
  
Dana and Deidree instantly appeared next to a soaring, black train that emitted great billowing clouds of steam. Both were in awe of the machine, but Deirdre concealed it more than Dana could.  
  
"Wow! Look at that! It's larger than my house times ten," Dana's ecstatic voice chirped as her head whirled around to take in as much as possible.  
  
Deirdre walked slowly towards the train, her heels clicking along with the hundreds of other shoes going in millions of directions. Voices weaved in and out through the crowd of students. Cries of joy and reunion filled Deirdre's ears as she boarded the train.  
  
A slight tug on her robe confirmed that Dana was indeed still with her. "It's Harry Potter!" she whispered in Deirdre's ear as a boy with jet black hair came closer to them.  
  
Glancing at the boy she saw him talking to a redheaded gangly looking thing. His named seemed vaguely familiar. "Harry who?  
  
"Harry Potter! Come on, you know who he is, silly. He defeated you-know-who. I can't wait to meet him. I need to get his autograph!" Dana started to ramble once more and Deirdre broke her gaze from the boy.  
  
She remembered him a little bit more now. Apparently he had been making quite a lot of publicity in the past few years. Voldemort he had supposedly defeated or something to that nature. She never really kept up on current events.  
  
Reluctantly, Deirdre followed Dana down the corridor and into a room. After getting settled with her trunks she eased herself back into the padded seat and closed her eyes. Now she could finally get the sleep she deserved…  
  
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Harry, Ron, and Ginny mingled through the crowd, greeting many of the students. For some reason it seemed unusually crowded. Eventually Ginny ran off with some of her friends, leaving Ron and Harry to look for Hermione.   
  
"Harry! Ron!" A familiar voice called to them.  
  
Harry turned around and saw Hermione walking towards them. "Hermione! How was your summer?"  
  
"Great, I suppose. I spent most of the past week rereading everything. I hope I can remember it all…" Hermione stopped beside Harry. "I hope you reviewed some of yours too."  
  
He gave her a quick nod, knowing that he should have read it, but… he didn't really want to start schoolwork before he had to. "Of course."  
  
"Somehow I think you're lying, Harry," Hermione replied sighing. "Let's get on the train, it looks like its going to fill up fast."  
  
The trio began pushing their luggage towards the train, maneuvering around the significant amount of students.  
  
"Where did all these people come from?" Ron asked, reading everyone's mind. "I haven't even seen half of them before."  
  
"I know, it's rather odd," Hermione answered. "But they all look like students."  
  
Harry realized that many of the people looked like they were from foreign countries. "They don't look like they're from England, or even the rest of Great Britain."  
  
"Weird," Ron muttered as he boarded the train. "Absolutely strange."  
  
******************************  
  
Draco Malfoy walked at a brisk pace, trying to squeeze past much of the crowd. "Where in the bloody hell did all of these people come from?" He said under his breath as Crabbe and Goyle followed closely behind.  
  
"Yeah, they all look foreign or something," Crabbe said as she pushed a few first years out of his way.  
  
"It seems like Dumbledore is accepting more students; more Mudbloods probably," Draco vehemently said. "I can't wait until he dies."  
  
Goyle nodded his head in agreement. "Maybe Snape would take his place, he's been there a long time."  
  
"Maybe, but I'm sure McGongall would have something to say as usual," Draco replied and walked onto the train. He found a compartment with a bunch of second years and promptly evicted them. There was no way he would share the whole ride with a bunch of children.  
  
Stretching his legs across the seat he covered his head with his arm. "Wake me when we arrive."  
  
******************************  
  
Her nap was short-lived, really, not even lived at all one could say. As soon as Deirdre closed her eyes a girl with mousy looking face and hair poked her head into the compartment. "Is there room in here for three others?"  
  
Slightly turning her head to get a better look at the girl, Deirdre let Dana answer. "Oh, of course! Come in!"  
  
The mousy-haired girl gave Deirdre an inquisitive look and sat down next to Dana. "Thank you ever so much. The train is awfully crowded."  
  
Then, two more entered, obviously with the girl. Deirdre instantly recognized Harry and the tall redheaded boy. She looked at Dana just see the girl's mouth hanging wide open.  
  
"Oh my goodness! I can't believe it! You're Harry Potter!" Dana's eyes were once again in awe.  
  
"Yes, nice to meet you," Harry replied as the redheaded boy stifled a laugh.  
  
"He's got a fan club you know, if you're interested," the redhead quipped as he took a bite out of a chocolate frog. "I'm sure you could join, there're just a small fee of course."  
  
Not realizing the redhead was joking, Dana started to take out some money but the mousy-haired one stopped her. "Ron, stop saying such ridiculous things. If you were more serious maybe you would perform better in class."  
  
"I'm sure, Hermione," he replied and threw some candy at her.  
  
"Ron!" Hermione brushed the red and blue balls out of her hair. "Stop acting so childish."  
  
"Yes, mum," Ron, replied, mocking Hermione.  
  
Rolling her eyes, Hermione directed her attention to Deirdre. "I'm sorry my friend was being so rude. I believe he has some sort of mental problem. My name is Hermione Granger and I am in my seventh year at Hogwarts. That's Ron Weasely," she pointed to the redhead, "And of course you know Harry."  
  
"Deirdre Apollyon, I'm a transfer student," Deirdre replied sitting up a little straighter.  
  
"I'm Dana Lansford and it's my first year!" Dana squeaked and then fell back into studying Harry's appearance.  
  
"I never knew that Hogwarts accepted transfer students," Hermione said raising an eyebrow as she broke her gaze from Dana.  
  
"Special case," Deirdre smoothed out her robes and looked down at the floor.  
  
"Hey, that's probably why there are so many people here!" Ron said. "Where are you all from?"  
  
"I'm from east of here, but I don't know any of the other people. I travel often, so I've never been to a real academy. My mother and I moved to England just recently…" Deirdre replied.   
  
"Really? Then how'd did you get into Hogwarts? I never knew them to accept non-first years," Hermione asked once again, trying to pry an answer out of Deirdre.  
  
"My father talked with the headmaster, but I really don't know," Deirdre avoided the question. She was beginning to not like Hermione.  
  
Hermione didn't seem to be satisfied with that answer, but let the subject go.   
  
"Is that a quidditch book?" Dana asked as Harry pulled out a rather worn textbook.  
  
"You mean you never returned that to the library?" Hermione asked in a concerned tone.. "You are going to be in so much trouble Harry!"  
  
Ron rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, we put another book in its place."  
  
"What? Are you two stupid? You know-" Hermione was cut off by a flash of light that filled the compartment. It was only for about a second, but Deirdre's eyes felt like they had been baked.  
  
"What in the bloody hell was that?" Ron yelled, standing up.  
  
Harry followed suite and pulled out his wand. "I hope it's not anything to do with the Death Eaters or even…" he paused for a second. "Or even Voldemort."  
  
Hermione give a little shudder. "I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation."  
  
Finally realizing that Dana had not said a word, Deirdre looked over and saw she was not moving.  
  
Hermione realized too and rushed over to the petite figure. "Oh, what happened to her? This is terrible!"  
  
Ron and Harry exchanged glances and quickly strode out of the compartment. They obviously had a bad feeling about the whole event.  
  
"Ron, Harry!" Hermione was about to go after them, but stopped. Deirdre followed, determined to know what was beginning to unfold.  
  
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I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Soon I hope to post the second! 


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